Julión Álvarez: Why Mariachi Is ‘Sacred Ground’ for Him | Billboard News Interview

Julión Álvarez looks back on nearly 20 years of his career, major Billboard chart milestones, and what it means to still have fans showing up in a big way. In this Billboard interview, Julión talks performing for nearly 100,000 people in two days in Jalisco, why big shows still make him nervous, and the respect that goes into making a ranchera album with mariachi. He also opens up about his new album Ranchero de Corazón and why mariachi felt like “sacred ground,” the story behind “Lleva a la Luna,” the importance of family and how he balances “Julio” vs. “Julión,” the obstacles he’s faced and how he stays calm through setbacks by focusing on what he can control, and relaunching his label while building a team to support more artists.

Julión Álvarez

I have enough talk for about 10 wakes without coffee and without cookies.

Ingrid Fajardo 

That’s right. It’s been a while since you talked with Billboard.

Julión Álvarez 

It’s been quite a while, yeah.

Ingrid Fajardo 

Really?

Julión Álvarez 

Really. A very, very long time. I don’t know, I have no idea how many years. 

Ingrid Fajardo 

Mmm. I think a couple of years have passed, and I have some data here from the charts we have with you. Obviously impressive. You have 25 entries on the Hot Latin Songs chart, you have 34 songs on the Regional Mexican Airplay chart. You’ve done incredible things, and next year you celebrate 20 years as Julión Álvarez. How does it feel?

Julión Álvarez 

Well, it feels like many things. Satisfaction. We feel blessed, fortunate to be able to be here, even after 20 years, after so many, so many trends, so many artists, talents, youth, new energies that are revolutionizing music, to still be there among the public’s favorites, to have an audience that supports us, that keeps supporting our music, applauding us, joining us at our events and allowing those numbers.

Ingrid Fajardo 

Yes, yeah. And besides, obviously we were just talking about the concerts you have. There will be practically 100,000 people in two days.

Julión Álvarez 

In two days. You know what? Yes, the capacity that Jalisco stadium has, we’re going to perform tomorrow as Julión Álvarez y Norteño Banda, the day after with Prófugos del Nexo, with my buddy Alfredito Olivas, to whom I send a big greeting, the man.